If you've travelled to France in the summer in the past few years...

[frogs]

...do you think it is cheaper to drive down or to fly and then hire a car?

We are going to the south of France next year for a family event, and then plan to rent a gite for a week or so afterwards. There are five of us, so even cheap plane fares add up once you multiply by 5, and we need a reasonably big car (ours is). I would also strongly prefer an automatic (again, ours is but they tend to be more expensive to hire).

If you've driven down from the UK, how much of a nightmare was it? And did you spend a fortune on staying in places overnight? Or should we look at campsites?

All advice gratefully received, we're novices at this, and I'm finding it really hard to weigh up the pros and cons.

Driving on French motorways is really easy but expensive. You can calculate the exact toll cost on www.viamichelin.fr, which will also give you the kilometres and average speeds so that you can calculate your fuel costs for your own car. Petrol is generally slightly cheaper in France.

If you are driving from London you will need to make one overnight stop somewhere.

Have just read the thread and see that you are planning to travel the third week in July. That is a very bad time to travel (any time after 14 July until end of August is a very bad time to travel) and I would highly recommend you avoid Saturdays.

I knew it would be a bad time, but with three school-age dc, there's not much choice. Luckily we're staying with family initially so not tied to changeover days. Leave London on Monday, perhaps?

Leaving London on a Monday ie avoiding weekend driving entirely is an excellent idea.

My parents live in Cornwall/devon border, so my skills at summer-time driving have been honed. Can make the children get up at unfeasible-o'clock if need be.

We must have avoided weekends then - we have had several school-holiday driving trips to France & I can't recall ever being stuck in traffic (or even being on anything other than fairly empty roads - driving in France is bliss compared with England )

Well, admittedly you won't be driving near Paris so that limits the dégâts.

You could stop overnight around Dijon perhaps? Fairly cheap in those parts.

useless for you, but do not go to s of fr, go to the atlantic coast

and if you live w of London get the high speed catamaran from Portsmuth to Cherbourg as driving to Dover is always awful and Calais is much too far north to be useful.

We did Oxon - the Vendee (ie between Nantes & La Rochelle) painfree in a short day this year (leave 5am, 8am ferry, drinking wine on patio 5pm)

There is also a high-speed cat crossing to Caen, with Brittany Ferries, & to St Malo from Poole with Condor; as you're going SE-ish the Caen route would be your best bet. (Cherbourg is a shorter crossing, but you have to negotiate Devon-like lanes to get down the peninsula)

Looking at the routes, it might almost be easier to get the ferry to Bilbao, though presumably much more expensive.

Much

also much loooonger, and crossing the notorious Bay of Biscay...you don't wanna do that!

satnav

are flyign this year
ds3s po and vomit sessions put us off driving
can be there in an afternoon

Caen it is, then, I guess.

Plus you have to drive all the way to Plymouth (nearly to Cornwall ) even to catch the ferry to Spain - then you're on it for 24 hours or something & then have quite a long drive when you get off.

So just don't, OK?

its not that we cant do the drive
have done beyone bordwaus its just SO SO wearing

and also a waste of at least a day

fly if you can
book ahead. we laeft at 7 am, for an 20 15 fery to get home at midnight

sister left at 11 am and was home drinkign tea at 4pm

as children we motorailed & got the ferry to santander and drove on various different journeys. mostly i remember being travel sick . oh, & there was the year i had german measles.... motorail best i reckon, though £££.

Yeah but cod, which airports did you use & which airlines?

southampton
the nations best airport acc to dh.
duno airline
a bargin one

our mates piss selevs abotu motorrail as int eh pics everyone is standnign aroudn drinking red wine
in reality its liek a cattle train

I bet Southampton is way nicer than Stansted (rhymes with cattle shed for a reason)

Exeter is nice too - similar probably.

But frogs is in London so neither of those is much use to her

but prob as quick to zoom to souhampton on m3
mate of ours in london uses it a lot

how about birmingham?

much underrated airport and piss easy parking. And not really far if n or w of London

yes ANy non london airport is a better place
apart from birstol

which is shit

Actually Luton is not a lot further N than Stansted, & that's easyjet's base - I am quite keen on easyjet (more than Ryanair anyway, from my limited experience )